Machinery for planing slats



' UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE.

LOT'I MCGILL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PFINNSYLVANIA.v

MACHINERY FOR PLANI'NG SLATSY.

Specication of Letters latent No. 4,955, dated February 5', 1847;.Antedated November 2'?, 184:6-

.ing to be a full and exact description thereof, reference being had tothe accompany- 'ing drawings, making a part of this specifl cation.

Figure 1, is a perspective view of my improved slat machine. Fig. 2, isa vertical longitudinal section. Fig. 3, is a rear elevation, with partof the frame work broken Iaway, for the purpose of showing parts thatwould otherwise be hidden. Fig. 4, is a top view; all the other figuresrepresent partsl in detail..

Where like parts occur, they are designated bv the same letters ofreference.

A, A; A, A', A', are the standards thatsupport the body of the machine;A, A, are the standards that support the bearings of the shaft b, uponwhich the pulleys c, o', and the fly wheel B, are secured. The arm d, ofthe fly wheel is perforated with holes by which to regulate the strokeof the pitman C; one end of which is connected to it by the crank pin e,and the other end tothe sliding frame D, in a similar manner. 'Ihesliding frame D, is composed of twol vertical posts united at theircenters by a hori- Zonta-l bar, and traverses the machinelongitudinally. on the ways or tongues on the beams D', D, iittinggrooves in the upper and lower ends of the vertical posts of the same.The sliding frame D, is connected to the horizontal driving bar E, asfollows: The driving bar E, has a mortise out into its upper surface,immediately behind the sliding frame, which descends nearly to the Aunder side of the bar; a .pin b', has its ends secured in the sides ofthis mortise, its front end 7,, projecting through the front side of thedriving bar, and into the horizontal piece of the sliding frame D,thereby connecting them; the connecting pin b, is held in that positionby the spiral spring d. The pin b is drawn in by a sliding detacher cl,operated by the rod 0; Vit is in the form of tw'o truncated wedgesunited :at their apex, with one side reduced to a flat surface; thestraight side of the Idetacherf d, is placed against the front inner-side of the mortise in the driving bar E, the pin b, passing through anoblong aperture in its center, and resting on a shoulder on the same.lThe sliding frame D, can be detached from the driving bar E, by movingthe detacher c, in either directionfore ward, or back--the thickest artof the de- `tacher pressing against the sioulder on the pin o, anddrawing in the same, (Fig. 12).

The driving bar E, is secured to the centerv g,`connected to them; thisrod has notches .upon it to receive a set screw, which secures the jawsh, at any distance from either of the supporters f, f; The jaws it, arefirmly attached to a sliding piece F, (Fig. 5) which works freely to andfro in the longitudinal grooves 0, (Fig. 2,) on the underside of themachine. The sliding piece F, (Fig. 5,) has a vertical slot extendingnearly .from end to end through its center, through which slot pass thescrew bolts y', j, (seen most distinctly in Fig. 2,) by which the driverG, G', is secured to it. This driver is made in three parts, G being thepart immediately connected with the sliding piece F, by means of thescrew bolts y', j; upon l for acting, slants vertically, with its baseagainst the front end of the driver G, (as .seen in Fig. 6.)

H, H, are vertical guides for receiving the rou h slat; they areadjustable for slats of any ength, and are secured immediately over theopening ls, (Fig. 2,) with a space between their lower ends and the wayseach side of the opening 7c, for the slats to pass under them. The rearend of the driver G, and the wedge m, risethrough the opening 1, betweenthe guides H, H, to a height above -said opening equal to the thicknessof a slat.

I, I, Fig. 6, are spring clamps 'lying yon ways on the bed of themachine between the K two inclined arms 0, 0 to the upper ends of thesearms there is connected by a spring joint the hook p, descending throughthe longitudinal opening lo, to a short distance below the level of theupper surface of the part Gr', of the driver. The object of this hook29, is to catch on a ledge on the upper side of the front end of thewedge m, when in the position referred to in Fig. 5, and to raise it toa vertical position as shown in Fig. 6.

J, J, Fig. 7, are the planes for trimming the edges of the slats andreducing them to a uniform width.

K, is a plane for rounding one edge of the slats, after they have beentrimmed by J, J. g, Q, Figs. 1 and 4, are clamps by which the planes arefirmly held in place. 7, r, are springs to press the planes K again theedges of the slats.

L, is a guard (represented in Fig. 8) to keep the slats from ying upafter they have left the planes J, J, and K; this guard has a groove onits under side to receive the slat, after it has been acted upon by theedging planes, through which it passes to the planes M, which dress itsupper surface. The guard L, is in two equal parts united by a dovetailed tongue, which allows the guard to be extended to any desiredlength, (Fig. 8).

Attached to the driving bar E, there are two drivers N, N', Figs. 1 and13. YThese are so constructed that they lie horizontally at right angleswith E, when acting on a slat and pushing it against the planes; andthey fold in on the top andbottom of E, when itsl motion is reversed.The driver N, is connected to the driving bar E, by means of anadjustable casing O, as follows: The casing O, is composed of threesides, one placed on the top of E, and the other two embracing itssides; the two vertical vsides of the casing are connected at theirlower edges by screw bolts, passing under the driving bar E, whichfirmly secure the casing to the same. The driver N, is attached t-o theupper side of the casing O, by a spring joint, and folds in under theguard e; y, is the joint pin on which the driver turns; e', is a springwhich throws it out to a posit-ion at right angles with the driving bar;the inner end of the driver strikes against the stop whichretains it ina right angular position while acting on a slat. The project-ing end ofthe driver is rounded from its front edge toward the rear. When themotion of the driving bar is reversed, the rear side of the driver N,strikes against the last slatplaced in the machine, which folds it underthe guard e, after passing this slat, the driver springs into its rightangular position under the guard L, and by the return movement of thedriving bar E, forces forward the slat to the planes M.

The driver N', is connected immediately to the under side of the drivingbar E, at its rear end; in the same manner that N, is connected to theadjustable case O (Fig. 13). A skid s, Fig. 15, is fastened to thevertical supporters f, j', at the rear end of the driving bar E; thisskid carries an adjustable cam t, which operates a lever u, on the shaft4of the windlass f1), thereby causing said windlass to raise the end ofthe drop guard u, (Figs. 1, 2 and 4) by means of a cord connecting themtogether. On each side of the drop guard fw, are two side guards a',a1', Fig. 4, resting on projections on their edges on the bed of themachine; there is suficient space between the lower edges of the sideguards a', a', and the bed pieces of the machine, to allow the driverN', to pass between them (as shown in Fig. 1). In a line with this spaceare the faces of the planes M', (Figs. 2 and 10) for dressing the underside of the slats. Between the faces of the planes M, and M', and at asuitable distance from each to allow of t-he passage of a Slat,- aresecured two steel plates e', e", for the purpose of keeping the slatsclose to the face of the bits. To these plates e', e", are firmlyattached the arms or levers i', z", Fig. 10, extending out at the rearside of the machine, which are elevated or depressed by means of springsand screws as represented in Fig. 3. Between the steel plates and thefaces of the planes, and immediately in contact with the front and rearcorner of the latter are thin bars of steel n', n', Figs. 10 and 14,extending the whole length of the planes, one on each side of the bitsor irons. These bars are to prevent the drivers N, N', from touching theplane irons while forcing the slat between the plates e', e', and theplanes. The bars n', n', are connected at each end by very thin platesn", a", (Fig. 14) the ends of one of the bars n', '11,', are permanentlysecured to the ends of the thin plates, in a position at right angleswith them; the other bar n', is secured by screws passing through slotsin the transverse plates a", n", so as to adjustable in its position tosuit different widths of slats.

In the same line with the space under the guards a', and the face of theplane N are the grooves 0', Figs. 2 and 3, in which the slat is drivenby the driver N', to be reduced to its ultimate width, and to have itsother edge rounded by the planes K', Fig. 3, after which the transverseoval holes are punched near each end of the slat as follows. On theshaft Z), there is a crank P, from which descends a pitman Q, connectedat its lower end by a joint pin to the end of a lever R, having itsfulcrum at S; from the end R', of the lever rises the curved arms h',h', having connected to their upper ends the horizontal piece L",' thehorizontal piece it", has vertical grooves formed in each end whichreceive the tongues i", i", on the standards A', A', on which it slidesfreely up and down. Near each end of t-he piece it", are secured in itsupper side the vertical punches T, T, their cutting ends reaching nearlyto the grooves 0. These punches are secured to the piece 7L", in anyconvenient manner, and are so formed that they shall make an oval holetransversely through the slats. The peculiar manner in which the?I areconstructed is shown in Fig 16, in whici T, is the punch, and h" thepiece to which it is secured; inside the punch is a follower j', theupper surface of which is flush, or nearly so, with the cutting edge ofthe punch, and is kept in that position by means of a spiral springaround its stem in the body of the punch, as represented at t'. When theholes are punched in a slat, the followers are depressed, when thepunches descend, the spiral springs forces up the followers and clearsthe punches of chips, thereby preventing their ever being choked.

The operation of my machine is as follows: Motion being communicated tothe fly wheel by a band or otherwise, the pitman C, drives the drivingbar E, toward the front end of the machine, and brings the driver G, andwedge m, by means of the slide F, between the guides H, H', and betweenthe spring clamps I, I; the hook p, having at this time raised the Wedgem, up through the opening 70,'-a rough slot is dropped in between thevertical guides H, H', and between the rear ends of the spring claps I,I, and the motion of the `driving bar E, toward the front or right-handend of the machine continuing, the wedge m, is forced in between thefront ends of the clamps I, causing their rear ends to grip the edges ofthe slat very firmly. The iy wheel having now made nearly a quarter of arevolution from the position represented in Figs. l, and S-the motion ofthe driving bar E, is reversed, and the slat is carried by the clamps I,I, to have its end just entered between the planes J; the clamps beingstopped in their progress by the spring joint on the ends of the arms o,o, coming in contact with the lower end of H', and the motion of G,continuing, the wedge m, is withdrawn from between the clamps and fallsinto a horizon* tal position, while the point on the rear end of G,catches the slat and pushes it through the planes J, and K, and entersit under the guard L. The motion of the driving bar E, `is now reversedand the driver G, is carried back between the guides the second slat,)pushing it through under the guard L, the planes M, and under the dropguard w-(the cam t, on the skid s, having given the windlass fu, a turnby means of the lever a, and thereby raised the dro-p guard). The motionof the driving bar E, is now again changed and carried toward the frontend of the Ymachine, while the driver N, goes to bring another slattoward the rear end of the machine, the driver N', catches the slatalready under the drop guard w, and forces it over the face of theplanes M', and through the planes K, over the punches T, (operated bythe lever R, pitman Q, and crank P,) when the holes are punched at themoment that the pitman C, kis passing the center of its crank the slatis then pushed along and out at the end of the grooves o', o', where itdrops from the machine between the standard A, A',-nearly under where itwas placed in the machine. The slats being fed into the front end of themachine, are forced through to the rear end, then brought back to thefront end and discharged; in their passage receiving a perfect finish onboth sides, their edges rounded, and holes punched in them,substantially in the manner herein set forth.

Having thus fully described my improved machine for dressing the sides,rounding the edges, and punching the holes in slats for Venetian blinds,what I claim therein as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the pitman C, the sliding frame D, the driving bar E,the spring clamps I; the sliding piece F, and the drivers G, Gr',connected to the same; the planes J, J, and K, the drivers N, N', theplanes M, M', the steel plates e', e", and guard bars n', a", betweenthe planes M, M', the drop guards w, and a', a', the

planes K', and the punchesT, T arranged and operating with' each otherand with the other parts of the machine respectively, substantially inthe manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

LOTT MCGILL. Witnesses:

J oHN THOMPSON, WM. WILLIAMS.

